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The area east of Twentynine Palms has been the site of numerous gold strikes both large and small. It is in this region that at least 4 lost gold mines have been reported. Part of the area has been set aside for the Joshua Tree National Forest. The BLM has closed some of the other areas without public input. Watch for signs.
Long was a prospector that had found gold in the motherload country and came south to continue his quest. He found a rich placer gold deposit somewhere on the west side of the Sheep Hole Mountains, east of Dale dry lake. He marked the deposit with a shotgun stuck in a mound of dirt and left a few articles at his find. He fell and injured his leg while at the deposit and headed for San Bernardino to see a doctor. By the time he reached the doctor, his injury had become infected and he died from blood poisoning. Before he died he gave the doctor a letter to send to an old friend and fellow prospector detailing the location of the gold. The letter stated that the deposit was located in a small brush canyon some 15 miles east of Dale dry lake. There was a small spring located in the canyon. His friend did not apparently look for the mine, but another miner while prospecting the west side of the Sheep Holes found a shotgun and other items in a small canyon here. He did not know about the story of the letter until sometime later and was unable to locate the same canyon again. This mine may have been relocated in 1971. Lost Mines Found
Sometime during the early 1900's, a prospector named Hermit John found a rich ledge of gold southwest of Amboy. This would place it either in the Sheep Hole mountains or the Calumet mountains. The story goes like this. Hermit John and his mule, came into Amboy, located on old route 66, in order to send a sack full of quartz ore up to San Francisco to a smelter to be refined. There were several men hanging out around the town at the time and as Hermit John was unloading his ore, the station master noticed that one of the sacks had a hole in it. John poured the ore out onto the platform to change bags and what the everyone saw caused them to stare in awe. The rocks were literally "plastered" together with gold. This would be wire-gold or leaves of gold filled cracks in the quartz-host rock. Hermit John noticing the stares of the other men, quickly picked up the ore and stashed it in the new bag. Later in the evening, one of the men who was a writer, wandered over to John's camp and asked about the ore. Hermit John told him that he had stumbled upon what he believed was an old Spanish or Mexican mine from long ago. He said there was a shaft and an old arrastra at the location. An arrastra was used by many of the early miners as a method of grinding the ore into powder in order to free the gold. There was apparently an old well or at least another shaft located near the arrastra. There were 2 or 3 graves located there and some very old mining tools. Hermit John said that he found the mine while prospecting northeast of Dale dry lake and southwest of Cadiz dry lake. This seems to narrow down the area to search. Everyone seems to be in agreement that the ore was some of the richest to be found anywhere. It also did not have the same characteristics that matched any of the other known deposits in the area such as might be found around Dale or Virginia Dale. One other thing, Hermit John said that there was a large outcropping of iron ore north of his mine that he had looked at but he was looking for gold and the iron ore did not contain enough gold to be of interest.
How much of the location information is accurate is the question. Did Hermit John give up the real location of his mine or were only some or none of the clues correct? Either way, Hermit John packed up his outfit and headed back into the desert. He was never seen again anywhere in the desert regions. This was summer with all of its intense heat. What befell the old man is not known, but what is known is that no one has produced any ore that looked as his ore did. When looking at a map of the area, you see that the Sheep Hole mountains are located directly east of Dale dry lake. The Calumet mountains are the first mountain range that you would come to when going west from Cadiz dry lake.
I have looked for this mine a couple of times and have spent a fair amount of time hiking throughout the southern end of the Sheep Hole mountains. I did find my "lost milk can" mine high up on a ridge in this area but I did not find any sign of gold or of any arrastra or well in the area. There has been much gold found in this area but if Hermit John's gold is real, I do not believe that anyone has found it yet. I have also camped at the northern end of the Calumet mountains and there is a small gold mine located there. It was not a very big producer and I doubt that this was Hermit John's source. I will say that the 3 days that my wife, dogs, and I spent camping in the Calumets were the hottest days that I have spent anywhere. We could not hike anywhere and just keeping enough water inside of us proved to be a daunting task. We left without doing any serious searching but with a deep appreciation for anyone who could make their way through here in any summer weather.
Mike Kovac prospected as a hobby and it was during one of his outings around the area of New Dale that he took a sample of gravel to pan later and when he did it was loaded with placer gold. The day he took his sample he was riding a trail bike and did not take very good readings as to where each sample came from. In later years, he said that if he had been walking as was his usual way of prospecting, he would have taken a better fix on where he was. Walking is better when prospecting. The time period is the mid-1960's and Mike Kovac had experience in finding deposits throughout this area. He panned some of the gravel for the writers of Desert Magazine in order to elicit some help in trying to locate his lost mine. Jack Pepper, the then publisher of Desert Magazine, went out with Mike and tried to relocate the placer gold deposit. After much searching they gave up. Mike Kovac stated that possibly the deposit had been covered over with blowing sand and only deep searching would once again reveal its location. Although the area to search is relatively small, the fact that neither Mike Kovac nor Mike with the help of Jack Pepper, could relocate this mine would indicate that it was not readily visible at that time. That was nearly 40 years ago and if blowing sands had covered the deposit, they may have just as easily uncovered it again and it is waiting for another weekend prospector to discover it.
In 1902, a small team of surveyors were working in the vicinity of the Coxcomb mountains doing work for topographical mapping. In the afternoon, after the days work was finished, one of the men took his mule and went hunting for a Desert Bighorn sheep. He spotted a sheep and followed it up a steep trail along side a very steep canyon. The sheep made its way around a sharp corner but the trail proved too small for the hunter to follow. He peeked around the corner to see where the sheep had gone and saw a vein of what he described as "dark rose quartz sprinkled with gold". He managed to pry a piece loose to take with him and he looked around for something to serve as a marker for the location. When he looked across the canyon, he spotted what looked like a "ten foot high white angel, tilted at an angle, with one drooping wing" on the opposite wall. The other surveyors saw the sample which lends credibility to the story. One of the other people in the group was a man named Kenneth Marquiss who spent much of his later years looking for the lost ledge. Remember, in those days, if you had a job to finish, you would finish it first before going off and searching for some lost ledge of gold. The ledge is somewhere in the Coxcomb Mountains and the Drooping Angel should be an excellent marker for the site.
Searching for lost mines is both exciting and somewhat dangerous. The true reward is in the looking (although finding a chunk of gold has got to be exciting). Remember that many experienced people have searched for these mines without result. Some have not returned from the search. The excitement is real and so is the danger but with just a little imagination, one can just make out that wandering image across the shimmering sands of the lone prospector on his way to another big strike.
NOTE 1: The vent pipe shown on the above map is a vent pipe, approximately 10 feet tall that I spotted from low hills just to the west. I spotted it with binoculars and hiked out to it. It must go to some old WWII operation that Patton left in the area. Always meant to explore it a bit further. It is still on the list.
NOTE 2: After rereading my own writing on these 4 lost mines, I think I have another clue put together on Hermit John's lost ledge so if you see me wandering around those hills, don't pay me any attention unless I'm jumping up and down hollering "I found it!"
References: Desert Lore of Southern California by Choral Pepper, former editor and publisher of Desert Magazine., Where to find Gold in the Desert by James Klein, Lost Ledge of the Sheep Holes, Desert Magazine, Feb. 1967, and The Lost Hungarian's Mine, Desert Magazine, Feb. 1966.
